About Jenerik Soulz

In late 2003, what seemed as a simple 15 minute crash course on production from TBeatz to Neo De Jenero, would pave the way to the formation of a duo known as Jenerik Soulz.

Music is the vernacular of the human soul.

2008 was to be the year in which the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle was found, in the form of a young lady known as Dionne Malan aka Dionne Song. This formed the distinctive sound of Jenerik Soulz; Neo De Jenero on drums, TBeatz on keys and Dionne Song on vocals.

The name Jenerik Soulz has an infinite amount of interpretations, but essentially when broken down “Jenerik” is symbolic of a whole group of similar things, rather than particular. This describes the relationship between the trio: before the music and business, the three are simply family (one). The “Soulz” has the obvious relation to the influence of soul music on the sound and the trio’s ability to merge their souls in unity to create a fresh distinct sound which compliments their personalities.

The Jenerik Soulz sound has often created debate as to which category of music it can be placed; it is definitely house music, but it’s the amalgamation of three distinctive sounds derived from different genres of music that each member loves; primarily house, hiphop and jazz. Jenerik Soulz’ subject matter is a fresh urban sound which speaks to the youth; the generation which challenges the conservative norms of society and breaks away from the chains of stigma and stereotypes.

Education is held dearly in the hearts of all the Jenerik Soulz members, as they strongly believe in its upliftment not only in individuals but in communities, as it breaks the restrictive chains of illiteracy. The trio strives in their respective careers and music is a mere extension of their education and a way for them to share it with the world.

Dionne song recently completed her diploma in Musical Theatre at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and is currently completing her B-Tech in the same field. She is actively involved within the walls of theatre and has participated in four TUT productions: the 2007 musical “Bohemia”, in a supporting role opening up opportunities of leading roles in 2008’s “I love you, you’re perfect, now change”, “Urine town” and a striking portrayal of Joanne Jefferson in the musical RENT in 2009. The reviews mentioned her as “dynamic and a star in the making.” She is also recognized in the television industry as she recently portrayed the character Beyonce on the ever popular M-net sitcom, The Coconuts, and received a SAFTA nomination for 2008 best supporting actress in comedy. Her recent appearance on television was as guest on the show “crazed out” on Etv charming the viewers with her free-spirited persona and bubbly personality.

TBeatz is a recent graduate of Wits University with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Media and English and is currently working for the broadcasting network SuperSport in their New Media division as a content controller. On the musical front he is currently attending Shine music academy in piano to further his knowledge in music theory.

Neo De Jenero graduated from the University of Kwazulu Natal in flying colors with an Honours degree in B.Com Accounting. He has also successfully completed his part 2 of SAICA’s Board exams securing him the much coveted title as a qualified chartered accountant at the tender age of 25 and received a personal phone call from the minister of finance Pravin Gordhan inviting him for lunch and congratulating him on this momentous achievement. Neo in late 2009 was appointed a board member of dance4life SA and is currently working for the National Treasury in Pretoria as an accountant. He also devotes his free time to tutoring matriculants and lecturing 4th year Bcom. Accounting students. Neo recently made an appearance on Channel O spinning his soulful sounds to people across Africa.

“As individuals with different personalities our love for music has brought us all together in a genuine and unique bond which we share as a close family. Our love for each other reflects with ease in our music as its merely an extension of our bond, our process is rather organic and instinctive and relies on a knack of feeling rather than a forced analytical process of creating music, we simply do what we know best and that’s making good positive music which is easy on the ear.” – Jenerik Soulz.

Jenerik Soulz are the official dance4life South Africa ambassadors, a global movement established in 2003 with the fundamental aim to inspire and involve the youth to becoming active in pushing back the spread of HIV and AIDS it does this by empowering the youth with the correct knowledge and tools to prevent infection. In 2008, Jenerik Soulz donated the track “Room Service” to dance4life for its first compilation CD which also featured tracks by DJ Tiesto, the acclaimed international megastar dj/producer and other big international producers such as Maxi Jazz, Armin Van Buuren & Paul Van Dyk. Proceeds made from the CD sales were used to fund dance4life school projects. Jenerik Soulz successfully launched their condom week campaign in 2010 with partners dance4life and Durex whereby winners stood the chance of winning a hamper with JS merchandise and Durex condoms. dance4life’s goals run parallel with the beliefs of Jenerik Soulz to further empower, mobilize and inform young people. Music is the tool Jenerik Soulz uses to reach a great pool of ears in educating people across all forms of culture. We use music, simply because “Music is the vernacular of the human soul.”

With the FIFA World Cup 2010 fever in full swing Jenerik Soulz were also announced ambassadors for the Fair Play for Africa campaign, which is a campaign that aims to use the platform of 2010 FIFA World Cup to ensure equitable access to quality health services for African citizens especially women, children, and people living with HIV and AIDS using civil society organizations from across the African continent.

Fair play for Africa will be working with campaign activities in 10 African countries (Angola, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya) and also aims to use the 2010 FIFA World Cup to put pressure on African governments to meet their health Millennium Development Goal (MDG) commitments by linking up with international initiatives to put the health MDG’s back on track. Jenerik Soulz will be participating in these activities.

Jenerik Soulz have been performing around the country spreading their unique, positive messages around the country. They joined forces with Metro fm travelling across Southern Africa in the Chevrolet Kasie tour); performed alongside international dj’s Roland Clark and Calvin Morgan; The 50th Mini anniversary party in Clarens, Free State (alongside Goldfish).

The JS trio has had extensive media coverage making appearances on radio stations such as 5fm, Metro fm, Radio 2000, Jozi fm and Yfm, which has spilled over to television making appearances on Live (SABC 1) and Seskhona (SABC 2) Channel O (DSTV).

Jenerik Soulz tries to write positive music that is easy on the ear but still doesn’t compromise its musical beliefs. It seeks to dig deeper than merely moving crowds on dance floors, the messages embedded in the sound capture the imagination of the youth and promote a positive lifestyle by encouraging listeners to chase their dreams and live responsibly. The music also serves the purpose of creating awareness amongst the youth with sensitive subjects such as HIV/AIDS which are ravaging our communities and affect everyone in some way or another.

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